It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Gangway (1937) – Musical #774

Studio:
Gaumont British

Director:
Sonnie Hale

Starring:
Jessie Matthews, Barry MacKay, Nat Pendleton, Alastair Sim, Olive Blakeney, Noel Madison, Patrick Ludlow, Liane Ordeyne, Graham Moffatt, Danny Green, Edmon Ryan, Lawrence Anderson (uncredited), Peter Gawthorne (uncredited), Warren Jenkins (uncredited), Michael Rennie (uncredited)

Plot:
Pat Wayne (Matthews) works for a newspaper as a film critic. She dreams of being a reporter who uncovers news and gets to go on dangerous adventures, like she sees female reporters do in American films. Pat soon gets her chance when she is put on a story to work undercover to get dirt on a visiting American actress, Nedda Beumont (Blakeney). At the same time, detective Bob Deering (MacKay) is trying to uncover jewel thefts at Nedda’s hotel, and suspects Pat as being a jewel thief. When she gets mixed up in a publicity stunt for Nedda, Pat ends up on a boat sailing for American. On the sea voyage, she gets further entrenched in the jewel theft schemes when an American gangster, Smiles Hogan (Pendleton), mistakes Pat for the real jewel thief.

Trivia:
• British Gaumont wanted Ray Milland to co-star with Jessie Matthews. However, Milland’s home studio of Paramount was more interested in having Matthews in Hollywood than loaning out Milland.
• Sonnie Hale directed the film and was one of the screenwriters on the film. At the time the film was released, Hale and the film’s star Jessie Matthews

Highlights:
• Jessie Matthews dreaming of being an American reporter like the ones in the movies.
• A quick glimpse of Michael Rennie in one of his early film roles.
• The gowns by Ladislaw Czettel (billed as P.L. Czettel)

Notable Songs:
• “Gangway” performed by Jessie Matthews
• “Lord and Lady Whoozis” performed by Jessie Matthews and Barry MacKay
• “Moon or No Moon” performed by Jessie Matthews
• “When You Gotta Sing, You Gotta Sing” performed by Jessie Matthews

My review:
When you watch a Jessie Matthews film, you know you’re in for something special and GANGWAY (1937) is no exception.

Matthews, dubbed “The Dancing Divinity,” was a shining English musical star, but she may not be as familiar of a name as other musical movie stars. While Hollywood wanted Jessie Matthews, British studio executives were reluctant to let go of their top star, so her career stayed in England.

What’s funny about this week’s Musical Monday, GANGWAY, Jessie Matthews dreams of going to the United States.

Matthews plays a reporter, Pat, who dreams of covering real news. When she finally gets a juicy story to go undercover for an interview with a Hollywood star, Pat gets a little more excitement than she expected. She gets mistaken for a jewel thief by policeman Bob Deering (MacKay). Bob and Pat both also start to fall for each other, which gets complicated the more Bob suspects Pat of being a jewel robber. Pat ends up on an ocean liner headed to the United States, with Bob following, getting further mixed up and mistaken for a thief when an American gangster (Nat Pendleton) welcomes her with open arms as the thief that a gang boss wants to meet her. Also on board is Detective Tagget (Alastair Sim), who is also meddling with the case.

Jessie Matthews does so many wonderful musical numbers throughout GANGWAY (1937). Right off the bat, Matthews and a dancer she wrote an unfavorable review of do a sort of dance “fight” to the film’s theme song, “Gangway.” There’s a lovely number on the boat, where Matthews gets to wear a frothy gown and do her signature high kicks. It’s dreamy. Then there’s a comedic moment in America where the gangsters are trying to cover up a shooting, and say that she is doing a dance where they are shooting at her feet, and she tap dances as they shoot at the floor.

While the song and dance numbers are great, what makes this movie so much fun is that it is legitimately funny.

One of my favorite humorous moments is when Pat (Matthews) is talking to another newspaper worker (Graham Moffatt) as they wish they lived in America where they could report on real news because “everything happens in America.” The two continue to list back and forth all of the exciting things that happen in the U.S., such as “riots, gangsters, murders, floods.” Pat also dreams of being like the women reporters in Hollywood films, “fast talking with the boss.”

I also thought it was quite funny that Jessie Matthews is a film critic and eager to cover real news. She’s sad when after covering a play, she has to go back to film reviews. Since everyone online wants to be a film writer, so I thought this was humorous.
Another highlight in the film is Nat Pendleton, who is always great as a mug. In true form, he starts off gruff and Matthews ends up crying on his shoulder later on in the film. I always look forward to Pendleton showing up in a film and this was no exception. He was quite funny in this.

And to top it all off, we have Alastair Sim as a detective. GANGWAY was an important film for Sim’s career, as it was the first time he got to play an off-beat, kooky comedic character, which he later became well-known for.

The leading man in the film is Barry MacKay, who also isn’t as well-known, but sings and dances in an adequate fashion. I know him best as Fred in the 1938 version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

GANGWAY received bad reviews for one reason or another in 1937, but I had a ball watching it. The film is on DVD, so thankfully, you may be able to find and enjoy this one too.

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